Games - Nertz

	Games - Nertz

Nertz (also known as Nerts, Pounce, Racing Demon, Peanuts, and Squeal) is a real-time card game similar to both Spit and Solitaire. It is an extremely fast paced version of Solitaire, with multiple players each having a separate deck of cards.

Game Play

Each player must have his or her own (clearly differentiated) standard deck of 52 playing cards, sans the jokers. Any number of players can (theoretically) play, though most games have 2 to 8 players. The game requires a large center area, such as a table. There are two playing areas: the central area and each player’s personal area. The personal area only can only be played on by the individual; the center area anyone can play on.

Starting out, players count out 13 cards face down, and turn the topmost card up. This is referred to as the Bone Pile. Then each player puts five cards face up next to the Bone Pile, like Solitaire. These cards are referred to as starting cards, because they begin the five separate, playable card stacks. In Nertz, there can never be more than five starter cards per each individual’s personal area. Players then move the cards in numeric sequence, according to alternating colour. For example, a player has these five cards to begin with: King Red, Queen Black, Jack Red, 5 Black, 6 Red. The client can reduce these five piles to two, with the jack placed directly underneath the queen and the queen placed underneath the king. The five can be played on the six.

Once that is accomplished, a player can then move three cards off his/her Bone Pile to replace the three missing starter cards. Unlike Solitaire, any card can begin a new pile within a player’s personal playing area, not just a king. Any card that is playable on the Bone Pile can (and should) be played in any way possible.

Players with aces available to play put these aces out in the center playing area. Anyone can play on card piles in the center area. Aces always begin the center piles. From there, depending on whether you are playing Standard Nertz or a variation, either a 2 or a king of the same suit goes on. In Standard Nertz, if an ace of hearts is played, a 2 of hearts can be played thereon, and then a 3 of hearts, and so on. In the center area, all cards must follow what has been previously played both in suit and in numeric sequence.

Like Solitaire, each player flips over a predetermined set of cards from their remaining deck (generally one card or three cards) in search of playable cards. This is known as the turn deck. If the amount flipped is 3, then that means the player can only play the topmost of three cards within the personal playing area or the central playing area. If the third topmost card cannot be played, the next three cards are flipped, with the topmost again being the only playable card, and so on until the deck is gone through. At the very end of the deck, the bottommost card can be played regardless of whether it is the third card or not. Then the deck is turned over and the flipping begins again.

While playing on one’s own five card row (which no one else can play on) can aid eliminating the bone pile, in Nertz no points are gained in this manner. To gain points, you must play on the center piles. This naturally results in a very fast-past game, as players naturally try to play on the center piles as much as possible. Whatever player lays his/her card down first on a sequence is awarded the play. When making a play, a person may only lift one card at a time and place it on the ongoing sequence. If there are two valid plays that the person has, the person may lay the two cards down one at a time.

The point of the game is to get rid of the Bone Pile as quickly as you can. One must get rid of the Bone Pile for a gaming round to end. Who ever eliminates the Bone Pile first yells “Nertz!”, and all game play must cease immediately. If a person is in the middle of making a play in the center area when Nertz is called, the player only gets points provided the card has left the player’s hand before the call. If the player still holds the card and Nertz is called, the play is void and the player gets no points. Naturally, this only applies to plays made in the center game area.

If Nertz is called in error (with has a large scoring ramification; for more info see below), the player who falsely called Nertz takes back the original card from his Bone Pile, as well as taking three more cards from his deck. These cards are taken from his the top of his turn deck, regardless whether he has flipped over numerous cards. The three additional cards added to the Bone Pile are not taken from cards already turned over. If the turn deck only has one or two non-turned cards, the remaining cards are flipped over and the top one or two cards fill the remaining quota.

Scoring

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Nertz ]

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